Living For Christ In A Hard World

When we plant new churches today, problems can crop u for different reasons. Many of the people who attend a church plant are new to any kind of church, some may be from churches where they did things differently.... In a way, Paul faced the same problem. Many of the people in the new churches (like Ephesus, where Timothy was at the time) came from Jewish backgrounds and some from pagan backgrounds. So at times they would argue about things (the men especially in this case) and some of the women seemed more anxious to catch the eye of the men. Timothy needed advice!

Paul wanted each congregation to be a real family in Christ, loving one another eager to learn more about God and his word, and to be different from the pagan culture that surrounded them and which was often giving in to all sorts of sexual temptations. It was hard to be a Christian in those days. It was especially hard for women who were for the most part less well educated than men and needed to learn more about the Scriptures and the faith so that they would not be taken in by the false teachers going around. Much of what Paul writes in these verses was to help both men and women to become strong Christians, as he mentions earlier in his letter: "Pray for rulers and all who have authority so that we can have quiet and peaceful lives full of worship and respect for God." (1 Timothy 2:2)